Sexual Abuse and Jesus

I believe in generational sin.

As in I believe it's real.

And it wraps its chains around multiple generations and runs a violent bruise of a thread through families.  I know it.  Personally.

I think that sexuality is one of the quickest ways for evil to take its first step into a family.  Quickest.  Easiest.  Most devestating.  There's very little that damages a human soul the way sexual abuse does.  Damage not in a surface way.  Not in a hurt for 30 minutes way.  Damage that changes the very dna of our souls and makes us question who we are.

Children with a history of sexual molestation are ten times more likely to attempt suicide (Conference on Child Victimization & Child Offending, 2000¹⁵)

I believe the church has fallen short when it comes to sexuality.  Not only fallen short but often nurtured environments where women are devalued and abusers can flourish.

Jesus has no part in this.  God made men and women in his image.  Personally, I violently reject any form of Christianity that tells women we are less than men.  Or to be little more than domestic servants to be seen and not heard.   Jesus often encountered and sought out women during his ministry.  A woman was the first to see the risen Christ.  God promises to pour out his Spirit on both his sons and daughters.

I have wrestled with grief and anger for many years because of the selfishness of men who would take advantage of a younger family member or friend.  Seen its effects.  It grieves me to the bottom of my soul.  There are actually no words harsh enough to express how I feel.


As we prepare to head back Nicaragua and be among the broken again I'm struggling to trust Jesus.  To remember that God is a healer and redeemer.  Sometimes the jagged edges of this life seem like too much.  God has never failed.  Not once.  Not one time.  So the sorrow and unbelief in me needs to remember that.  God can break generational chains.  God can set souls free from pain.

God calls to account those who wear his name in vain.

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
~I John 6